First Mercantile Trust Co. Invests $219,000 in BankUnited (BKU)

First Mercantile Trust Co. acquired a new stake in BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 5,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKU. Macquarie Group Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the third quarter valued at approximately $174,000. Forward Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the third quarter valued at approximately $192,000. QS Investors LLC lifted its position in shares of BankUnited by 9.6% in the second quarter. QS Investors LLC now owns 6,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of BankUnited by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 1,818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worth Venture Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the third quarter valued at approximately $226,000. 96.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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In other BankUnited news, insider Mark Bagnoli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.88, for a total transaction of $35,880.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $706,800.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.12, for a total value of $1,684,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 31,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,321,725.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Shares of BankUnited (BKU) opened at $39.91 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4,238.67, a P/E ratio of 7.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. BankUnited has a fifty-two week low of $30.37 and a fifty-two week high of $43.84.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $285.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $270.33 million. BankUnited had a return on equity of 11.30% and a net margin of 45.09%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. analysts predict that BankUnited will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, January 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 12th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 11th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. BankUnited’s payout ratio is currently 15.05%.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BKU shares. Barclays raised their price objective on BankUnited from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Zacks Investment Research cut BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut BankUnited from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, November 1st. Finally, Hovde Group cut BankUnited from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.09.

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BankUnited Profile

BankUnited, Inc is the bank holding company of BankUnited (the Bank). The bank is a national banking association. As of December 31, 2016, the Bank provided a range of banking services to individual and corporate customers through 94 banking centers located in 15 Florida counties and six banking centers in the New York metropolitan area.

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